Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Decades after it was released, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody still manages to rank among the most downloaded rock songs in iTunes. Even after countless artists provided their own renditions, versions, and live covers of the song, the original still remains as one of the most popular songs in the industry.

It’s almost impossible to tie Bohemian Rhapsody down to a single genre, as it is elaborately structured – with the song consisting of four different parts such as a ballad segment, a guitar solo, an operatic passage, and Queen’s trademark hard rock. Lots of bands and artists have tried to mimic the same kind of creativity and brilliance oozing from Bohemian Rhapsody, but so far none have succeeded in replicating the grand, epic feel of Queen’s six-minute composition, with the length of the song probably an additional reason why few artists managed to emulate it. Modern mainstream radio simply wouldn’t accept such a long song.

The most amazing thing about Bohemian Rhapsody is that despite its popularity and its grandiose, big theatre operatic feel, it was just a normal piece that Freddie Mercury himself admits to almost throwing out. He stayed with it, it kind of grew until it reached a point where the rest of the band wanted to chop it around a bit, but Freddie would not let them even though he knew it would be risky and would not garner much respect. The rest, as they say, is history.